The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

hacks

In much of the country, this is the first truly warm week of the year. The change of seasons has us turning to shorts, dresses, sandals, and chilled fruity drinks served in rooftop bars. But data breaches, alas, are always in style, and buying that beverage may land you with a stolen credit card number. [More]

Sometimes cyber criminals do such a good job camouflaging their ploys to steal consumers’ personal information that you might not recognize that the site you just entered your password on isn’t a legitimate login page. In an effort to combat such ruses, Google has created a new tool for its Chrome browser that aims to ensure users’ passwords don’t end up in the hands of ne’er do wells. [More]

Modern life means logging in to about a zillion different websites and apps every week, with about a zillion different accounts. But there are ways to streamline it all — for example, logging in to everything with your Facebook account, as millions do. That’s much more convenient not only for you, but for hackers who have a new way to target you: a free, easy-to-download tool that exploits a bug in those logins to let them hijack your account. Oops. [More]

A recently filed class action lawsuit claims that Toyota, Ford and General Motors knowingly put consumers at risk by selling connected cars that can be susceptible to hackers looking to remotely control vehicle functionality. [More]

There are certain websites that you expect to be secure. The NSA’s and FBI’s sites, for example, or any shopping site you enter your credit card information on. They say HTTPS, and they show a lock, so they’re fine, right? Wrong. A team of researchers this week has announced the finding of a flaw they’re calling FREAK. It interferes with that encryption and makes some sites vulnerable — and it’s everywhere. Not just on laptop and desktop computers, but also on mobile phones and tables. Here’s what you need to know. [More]

Social media tools are an effective way for businesses and bigwigs to communicate with their customers… that is, as long as those companies or people are in charge of their own accounts. When hackers “borrow” their social presences, much less good things can happen. And today at least three high-profile accounts found that out the hard way. [More]

The hack into Sony Pictures was big news late last year, but that was last year. They figured out who did it, fixed the problem, and moved on, right? Wrong, says one analyst firm: not only did Sony finger the wrong bad guys, but the hack is still going on to this day. [More]

Any data breach is bad, but the more personal they are — and the more widespread — the worse. And by both metrics, the hack just announced by major health insurer Anthem is particularly terrible. [More]

While many people no longer use the free e-mail accounts made available by their Internet service providers, there are still millions of Americans who do. And up until last week, a reported vulnerability in Verizon’s My FiOS app that left all Verizon e-mail users’ messages at risk of being read by complete strangers. [More]

Despite fake reports on the Twitter accounts of both the New York Post and United Press International, no, the United States is not at war with China. And no, the Pope did not say it’s the start of WWIII. So, shew. [More]

If you had boat-loads of miles saved on your American Airlines or United Airlines account you might want to make sure they’re still around, now that botmoh airlines have confirmed thieves used stolen usernames and passwords to book free trips or upgrades. [More]

The FBI announced today, and President Obama confirmed during a press conference, that North Korea is indeed behind the attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. The President expressed his sympathy for Sony employees, but gave voice to what many in the United States are thinking: that hacks are inevitable, and in pulling their movie, Sony did the wrong thing. [More]

It has been a bad, bad month for Sony Pictures. In the wake of the hack that loosed their employees’ most personal information onto the internet, threats of violence resulted in the cancellation of their Christmas-day comedy release The Interview. And now, federal investigators aren’t sure how to point the finger of blame — not because they don’t know who’s behind it, but because they do. North Korea is indeed to blame, administration officials say, and the U.S. has to figure out how to handle international relations in the face of what is not just another hack, but cyberterrorism. [More]

Last week, a federal court in Minnesota gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit filed against Target by several banks trying to claim damages from the massive 2013 payment systems breach. Now, some worry that the court’s decision could lead retailers to go with simpler, perhaps less secure, systems rather than risk missing a red flag on a more complicated one. [More]